Mumbai Police arrest Gurunath

Gurunath Meiyappan, son-in-law of BCCI chief N Srinivasan and a top official of the Chennai franchisee was arrested by Mumbai Police after three hours of interrogation late on Friday night.

Meiyappan was summoned to appear before the Mumbai Crime Branch and was reportedly nailed after explosive telephone conversations recorded between himself and Vindoo Dara Singh, a small-time Bollywood actor and alleged middle-man.

Meiyappan had allegedly asked Vindoo to book rooms for two bookies at a suburban hotel in Mumbai, who later fled to Dubai.India Cements, which owns the Chennai team, released a statement on Friday evening, saying Meiyappan was not an owner/CEO/Team Principal of the franchisee but just an Honorary Member.

His Twitter profile which claimed he was Team Principal, was quickly changed half an hour later.

Meiyappan was also seen regularly in the team dugout, where only team owners are allowed access and also at player auctions.TV reports suggested Meiyappan will be interrogated throughout the night and will be confronted with Vindoo who had named him to investigators.

The Chennai official will be presented in court in the next 24 hours.Chennai, two-time Indian T20 League champions, qualified for the final of the Indian T20 League 2013, making it to the title clash for a record fifth time and will face Mumbai in Kolkata on Sunday.

Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Himanshu Roy told the media that the investigators found enough reason to arrest Gurunath after detailed questioning since his arrival in Mumbai.

"We interrogated Mr. Gurunath Meiyappan after he arrived at the Crime Branch Headquarters. We went through detailed questioning with him and came to the conclusion that there is evidence in his involvement of the matter we are investigating.

"Therefore, he has been placed under arrest and will be taken to court within 24 hours as per law," Roy said.